I’m back at Newcastle Beauty Clinic for some very specific eye enhancing treatments and I’m hoping they’ll make me look bright eyed and bushy lashed as I’m off to a big event tonight and hoping to go mascara free. Now, I’m no stranger to a beauty treatment but this was a completely new one for me; LVL lashes promises Lift, Volume and Length in one treatment and to “frame” the whole eye area perfectly, I opted for HD Brows.

On arrival at the city centre Beauty Clinic I’m greeted by Gemma, my LVL Lash Specialist Therapist who talks me through the process as we make our way through the myriad of corridors to the treatment room. The treatment is from beauty house, Nouveau Lashes, they’re industry pioneers in the individual lash extension world so I know I’m in pretty safe hands.

The treatment is billed as “revolutionary” as there are no falsies at all used in the process, the effect is created entirely with your own lashes and no matter what you were born with, you’re guaranteed a dramatic result with LVL Lashes.

The first step in the treatment is the prep; sticky silicon pads are placed on the edge of my lash lines, my lashes are tweezed up and lightly stuck to each pad in order to flatten them out. As weird as this process sounds it’s not at all painful, I’m quite squeamish when it comes to eyes but I’m a seasoned lash tinter so I know how this is going to go down and I’m completely fine with it.

Once the lashes are in place, a serum is applied generously; similar to perming solution and with a smell that takes me back to my school days where my skirt was tight and my perm was tighter, only this time, the lashes are being straightened from the root. Here comes the science: Perming loses all-important length during the rolling process and can appear shorter because of the ‘roll back’ effect. When lashes are straightened and lifted, you get to see the full length of each individual lash. Got it?

Once the straightening serum is removed, the tint is applied to give lashes that glossy black look we all crave. Each step is timed, it’s an almost clinical process and each product is removed and lashes are checked thoroughly in between stages.

There’s no damage with this treatment and results will last up to six weeks, the lifecycle of our lashes is approximately six weeks so the lift will simply fade away as each lash ends its growth cycle and drops away. As the solution is wiped away with dry cotton pads, i’m told that for the first 24 hours following the treatment, it’s vital that I don’t get my lashes wet so no jumping in puddles, sad movies or laughing hysterically for me, for at least a day anyway. As Gemma hands me a mirror to look at the results I’m completely amazed. My first thought is that it looks as if I’m wearing strip lashes and they’re so dark! My lashes are visibly “lifted” away from my lids making me look more wide-eyed and awake, and they look think, like they’re coated with mascara.

BEFORE

AFTER

From start to finish the treatment takes just 45 minutes and is pain free, the big draw for me is that there are no eyelash extensions (the idea of glue near my eyelids send me into a literally, blind panic). You can be in and out on your lunch break and be guaranteed to see an immediate difference. I’d definitely have this again and think it would be perfect for holidays abroad when you really don’t want to wear mascara.

I finished this treatment off with HD Brows, anyone who knows me will know that I’m very precious about my brows. I was an over zealous plucker in the 90’s and so am not naturally of strong brow game but with a little help from a Tom Ford eyebrow pencil, I can create an amazing tribute to Cara Delevingne. Anyway, enough about that, back to the treatment. We all have an image in mind when someone says HD Brows and I was determined that I was not going to be the personification of this.

I talked through my (many) brow issues with my assigned Therapist and she assured me that the look would be natural and gentle and that she would work with what I have to create a low maintenance look. She explained that it’s not the look which is prescriptive but the process; there are seven steps to follow which ensure that baby hair is removed too and the skin and hair are tinted to create a temporarily thicker brow, it can be as gentle or dramatic as you want it to be. I opt for a reasonably dark look but nothing too thick or heavy and the result is a softly arched brow with no sparse areas. Not a Scouse Brow in sight.

I’d highly recommend both treatments at Newcastle Beauty clinic, LVL Lashes has joined my list of Must Have Beauty Treatments simply because it negates the need to wear mascara. I went out to a big launch on the evening of my treatments and was asked by six people which mascara I was using and none of them could believe it when I told them I wasn’t wearing any. Now that’s got to be testament to how good it is right?